When thinking about the apocalypse, flames, war, plague, other destructive forces come to mind. Literary and film depictions show a world in a chaos of sharply contrasted duality of good and evil, life and death. However, when digging deeper into the subject, the very word apocalypse seems to have a different meaning entirely to the doom we compare it with. It comes from the greek apokalypsis, meaning an “unveiling” or “revelation.” With this, the idea of the apocalypse became synonymous with the end of suffering. In Ancient Greece, the belief in the world’s unveiling was rooted in the word for hope, elpis—anticipation or expectation of a good, safe future, but also fear of the unknown.
In this work I address my own acceptance of terror. Through framing devices within the paintings and externally as installations, I present moments where the spiritual and the material meet or overlap, ready to be revealed. In a time period which feels like a prolonged apocalypse, I draw upon the many mythologies which treat the end of the world as a birth of a new one.
Tea time with the void --- An Installation view of the 2020 paintings from the ongoing series Have You Seen The Horsemen Yet? dealing with the starkness of rationalizing an internal apocalypse or a mental breakdown.
2020
Oil and rhinestone on canvas
8.1 x114.3cm (15 x 45in)
2020
Watercolor on Fabriano paper
22” x 30”
The Burning Bush Was Also A Trash Fire
2020
oil and glitter on canvas
36 x 54 in
What Is Seen Cannot Be Heard—Let’s Burn Down My White Picket Fence
2020
watercolor and leaf on fabriano paper
22 x 30 in
At What Point Does This Become a Nightmare? — Marriage of Sunset and Shadow
2020
watercolor on fabriano paper
22” x 30"
Have You Thought About Your [Existential Crisis] Today? -- The Breaking of the Seventh Seal
2020
Oil and rhinestone on canvas
62” x 44"
2021
Watercolor and Rhinestone on Fabriano paper
22" x 30"
A Paradise I Wouldn’t Wish on Anyone
2021
Watercolor and leaf on Fabriano Paper
22” x 30”
As I Wept Tears of Both Sadness and Joy I Saw Flames of Silver Glittering Before Me
2021
Water media and leaf on paper
22”x 30"
As We Drank We Entered A World Without End
2021
Oil and leaf on Canvas
62 x 44 in
Here Are The Angels and Here’s What They Have to Say...You Break it You Buy It
2021
Oil, Rhinestone, and Glitter on Canvas,
Center: 36 x 54 in Sides:15 x 44 in
The Cocktail Hour of the Apocalypse: A sister installation to Teatime with the void featuring the 2021 paintings envisioning the collective experience of the apocalypse through a party taking place on the last night on earth.
